Militias and conspiracy culture

Extremism and mainstream
At least some of the features uniting the American extreme right – including a paranoid view of government, anti-centralism and a belief in America as a chosen country whose system is continually under threat – can also be found in parts of the mainstream right, albeit in less passionate form.

Examples include commentator and Tea Party activist Glenn Beck – an outspoken admirer of Cleon Skousen – who has promoted right-wing conspiracy tropes like societal collapse, collapse of the dollar, the possibility of dictatorship and even the claim that dissidents are being put into FEMA camps, a theory he later dismissed. Some local militias are also close to the Tea Party movement, while Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has appeared on Alex Jones’ online programme. Other examples are the never-ending rumour that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and the tendency of the right to cast itself as “real Americans” as opposed to minorities, “socialists”, immigrants and the political elites represented by “Washington”, a tradition dating back to both “producerist”, farmer-oriented populism and the John Birch Society. Indeed, as shown by Charles Postel, many of the tropes present in today’s Tea Party, including the identification of the country’s president as a socialist/collectivist “traitor”, were present in the JBS. With this in mind, it is fitting that congressman and Tea Party favourite Ron Paul was the main speaker at the society’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2008. There have also been some examples of Tea Party activists demonstrating in the company of pro-gun and Islamophobic groups connected to the militia movement. The Tea Party also shares a love of revolutionary war imagery with the antigovernment underground.

One of several places where the more radical elements of the mainstream overlap with moderate extremism is Oath Keepers, a nonprofit group founded in March 2009. Oath Keepers is based on the idea that it might eventually be necessary to resist the government by refusing to obey orders. It therefore attempts to recruit members of the police and military, and has attracted members from the fringe of the Tea Party as well as tax resisters and terrorist sympathizers. Among its endorsers: Glenn Beck.

The name “Oath Keepers” is derived from a theory that the primary duty of members of the military is to the Constitution, and that they should therefore be ready to resist an unconstitutional order. In reality, the oath of enlistment specifies that they shall obey the President. While less radical than militias, Oath Keepers is implicitly based on fears of the government will eventually find an excuse to declare martial law, confiscate guns and ammunition and arrest resisting patriots. Indeed, founder Stewart Rhodes has mentioned the “possibility” that black helicopters from the UN will eventually be entering the country to abolish American sovereignty.

Influence abroad
The anti-government conspiracy subculture of the United States remains unique, but it has its echoes in Europe. Examples include pure conspiracy websites like Norway’s Nyhetsspeilet and Sweden’s Vaken.se as well as parts of the New Age movement, in which opposition to vaccines and conventional medicine have fuelled belief in such menaces as a UN depopulation programme and a programme to control humans through microchip implantation. There have also been several instances in which people of the left, like Norwegian peace researcher Johan Galtung, have quoted right-wing ideas about international bankers and/or secret societies. The antigovernment movement should therefore be of concern not only to Americans, but to everyone interested in online radicalization.

Print Friendly